Well, kids, the DWTS gods did indeed spite me as requested. 🙂 Karma is MY bitch. 🙂 Courtney read my mind and just posted something similar to this on Twitter:

Attention fans of Kirstie, Hines and Chelsea – Ralph Macchio just got a SERIOUS number of votes and is officially a force to be reckoned with. Boyfriend needed AT LEAST 23,000 votes more than Romeo per 1 million votes cast. That is SERIOUS, ladies and gentlemen. Like I said, never underestimate the sympathy vote OR the typical DWTS demographic matching a dancer. Ralph’s best known movies put his fans square in that demographic – and they are likely to vote.

Take heed, Ralph fans. If you want him to stick NEXT week, you best get more verified accounts. If you were paying attention to the Berg tonight, there is a 3rd dance next week which is worth a 15 point bonus. Depending on how they use it and what the other couples are allotted, they can basically pick the person they definitely want in the final. I doubt it will be Ralph.

Very sad to see Romeo go home – very unfortunate and I would rather it be someone else, including Kirstie – much as I love her.

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

84 responses to "SPOILERS!!!!! DWTS Season 12, Week 8 – The Results!"

“Depending on how they use it and what the other couples are allotted, they can basically pick the person they definitely want in the final. I doubt it will be Ralph. ” Suprrsed not adding a fourth dance to run Ralph ragged. Just curious, what’s the farthest Chelsie has ever gone?

sigh, two hours to get to that result. Did you notice the ‘shock’ on the judges faces when it was announced? Yo, judges, if you didn’t UNDERSCORE Romeo, like you have been doing all season and over-score others (cough**Kirstie**cough), the outcome might have been a little different. And haha, Ralph stays, against your evil plot to get him voted off. Go America, way to vote! This almost makes up for the Bristol situation last year….

And as an aside, did anyone else realize how much you missed real pro-dances when they showed the season six group dance of Let Me Entertain You. Wow, it was fabulous (even though Derek did have his bowl cut then…). Time to kick the troupe out of there, now!

I’m really disappointed. Ralph has never been my fav, and though I always respect those who battle thru injury, romeo was by far the more improved and entertaining of the two for me. And, he was by far the better dancer last night.

I’m sad now. I feel like hines and ralph, two of the more boring contestants (to me) are favs to win. Bummer.

Funny you should mention that SueB, I was saying on Twitter that not only was the first hour the best Tuesday material EVER (far better than the actual results show), but the producers may have made a critical error by showing all those fabulous, all-pro dances. And yikes, my twitter feed was filled with “DEREK!! I MISSED YOU!!” And it wasn’t all coming from me. 🙂

I was never really on the Kirstie bandwagon but she has impressed me and done a lot better than I thought she would. She’s been way overscored the last few weeks though, in my opinion.

Chelsea is a great dancer and definitely would deserve to win but I’ve just been kinda “meh” on her dances sometimes.

I would like to see Karina finally get a win after being on so many seasons and I adore Ralph, so I’d be happy if they win. But I also LOVE Kym and Hines is just too charming, and it would be fun to see a non-retired footballer win. I’ve been dividing my votes between the 2 of them but I guess next week I’ll have to go with one, depending on how Ralph’s leg holds up.

The week of Romeo’s Paso Dobla was the week I became a huge fan. He had the ability to pull me into his dances, watching him from start to finish and as Cari Anne said, we could almost hear him breathing. I will miss him. Well Done Romeo. Well Done.

Bittersweet – so glad Ralph got to stay, so sorry to see Romeo have to go. But of the two, the right one stayed. Still, Romeo grew a great deal during this season and he and Chelsie should both be proud. I went from liking Romeo to loving him, and that’s a testament to how much he let loose and started having fun. Plus, damn, he’s hot.

Ralph got a LOT of votes – I hope those people keep voting for Ralph and get he and Karina that win. For how hard the judges have been on him, he deserves it. What’s the biggest % someone had to overcome to be saved? I remember Kurt Warner had a week where he got saved from really harsh voting (they were so hard on him last season!).

That hour of filler was the best filler they’ve done. It was so wonderful to see those dances again, even if I had to laugh at a lot of their hair (ahem Derek & Maks). I always LOVED the way they threw Karina around in that one dance – and because I like her so much more now than I did then, I tend to appreciate her amazing abilities more. Plus there were some nice appearances by Jonathan, yayayayayayay!

I seriously LOL’d at the Romeo dance center – those clips of him plugging were awesome, as were Kirstie’s animal noises. I wish that segment was there a little more often cause it always cracks me up. Every joke doesn’t work, but most of em do and those work WELL.

Well, I was glad to see Romeo go. I think, for me, it was his time. I could not warm up to him and yes, he did improve the last couple of weeks, but … it’s not just about that, the dancing… it’s the whole package thing, the backstory and I could just never warm up to him or find any point to which I could relate. So I was happy with the way things went tonight.

And, seeing some of those pro dances again, on my newish big screen HD TV was a total delight!

3 dances next week, Lordie, Lordie, Ralph and Kirstie will have a problem. Ralphs leg will still be healing, so Im guessing he will be somewhat disadvantaged again.

Guess Len will have to dust off his 10 paddle to ensure that Kirstie gets all 10s to make it into the finals. This blatant favoritism sucks. Because not one of her dances to date has deserved a 10 in my opinion.

I think Romeo may have tied Chris as my favorite contestant this season 🙂 Class act, & such GROWTH, both in his dancing & as a person, since the show began. He left on a high note, & very graciously. I will miss him.

However, now let’s get down to the nitty gritty. If you’re not a fan of the judges stacking the deck for their faves, trust me – Ralph getting through over Romeo is the best thing that could happen. Romeo, while quite good, just wouldn’t have the fanbase to break into the finale – he would be gone next week anyway. But Ralph’s fans pulled off one helluva Herculean feat this week…those numbers speak for themselves. And I know some of the fans of some of the other teams are already scoffing and writing this all off as “sympathy votes”, but seriously people – they’ve saved him from the bottom twice before. This was a 3rd time. Sympathy votes or not – Ralph is pulling votes in, period. What makes you think it won’t happen a 4th time next week? 🙂

I think the person who should be the most worried about this is Chelsea – she may be getting the scores from the judges, but she’s the definite underdog in the fanbase department, going up against 3 powerhouse favorites in the semifinals. Should the judges decide to shield her with that 15 point cushion, I think Kirstie could be in trouble, if she isn’t scoring particularly high. Hell, I think even Hines could be at risk – Ralph sticking around throws a gigantic wrench into the judges neat little plan to get their 3 favorites to the finale. And I LOVE IT. I got a very smug sense of satisfaction from the look of horror on all 3 of their faces after the results were announced – pure rage, followed by terror. As if they realized “Sh*t….this thing is bigger than we thought.”

Well, I was really hoping Mark and Chelsea would be picked to go. Dang! It was sad to see Romeo go. But, I was so relieved to see Kirstie and Maks making it. What a night! I so LOVED The Dance Center. They were SO FUNNY!!

I’m sad to see Romeo go, but I think I’d be sad to see any of them go at this point. Next week should be very interesting! I wish there was a way of knowing how many votes each couple got. Obviously Ralph got a TON, but I wonder where the other’s stand compared to him.

I agree Bruce – and I like to think that this is also the fans’ way of “taking back the show”, so to speak. It’s become such a premeditated 3-ring circus in the past few seasons that I think some viewers are finally tired of the judges’ nonsensical scoring & are fighting back. God it felt good to see Carrie Ann so flabbergasted at the results 😉

I don’t see a big conspiracy to keep Ralph out of the finals. He is entertaining & works hard but always comes across very stiff to me & lacks hip action. I think all four deserve to be in the semi’s and love it that any of the four could be eliminated next week. There is no clear cut finals bound dancer – yet.

Having said that, I am not liking the bonus dance at all. It takes the audience vote out of it. As a Kirstie fan, I almost (note I say almost) hope she doesn’t win that because the cry will be that she is their favorite. I don’t think I have to worry about it. I would guess Chelsea or perhaps Hines will get the bonus points.

I’m thrilled that Kirstie is still in and I love the way she moves. The fact she is 60 yrs old is inspiring & the cherry on top.

I’m sad to see Romeo go. He’s my favorite this season and I am aware he probably has the smallest fan base. But he had given some great dancing before he left and I think he’s happy to leave now that the movie that he has been plugging is doing so well now. Better luck next time Chelsie. 🙂

I agree, when I saw Derek I immediately thought of Princess Heidi. Is this blog too big a part of my life? Ha. It was good to see Edyta and Alec, too. Of course Jonathan! Loved the various hair style changes on our great pros. Yes, they are OUR pros after this many seasons. I wonder if we will ever feel that sense of pride in watching the new “troupe”.

I couldn’t watch tonite, but did they really say that whoever wins the 3rd dance gets 15 points and the other 3 couples get none? If so, I agree with Michelle. That almost certainly means that the judges get to pick 1 couple for the finale themselves, eliminating the show’s concept of the value of viewer voting. Not cool IMO.

Would be interesting to see a hypothetical by-the-numbers to understand what such a gap translates to vote-wise, especially given how close the competition is.

It was Romeo’s time to go. Kirstie won’t be the first person to stay more because of her fan base than because of her dancing, but she won’t win, and I like it that she’s still there. I don’t get what the fuss over Hines is. I think Chelsea is lots, lots better than he is, even with Mark’s obvious and distracting showboating, and Ralph is at least as good. Mark Ballas really wants people to notice him with Derek gone, somewhat at Chelsea’s expense.

@Figmentation, Kurt needed ~48400 more votes per million cast to beat Audrina last season. As explained by Heidi at the time, Audrina must not have been getting very many votes, but I still think 48k+ is a rather impressive hurdle.

Okay I’ve got a lot on my mind and I know I’ll forget something. But here I go:

1) Have you noticed the pattern in the eliminations? Boy Girl Boy Girl Boy Girl? We just lost a boy, wonder if we’ll lose a girl next week (Hopefully Chelsea? Anyone?). I know this is coincidence but I had to point that out.

2) Well I guess Donny Osmond is smiling right now because the “cocky one” is out. People, aka DWTS fanbase, why do you listen to this man? Please, it’s not like he’s the best champion ever. I am so sick of hearing HIS cocky comments and I will continue to watch so I can get more offended 😀

3) Did you hear Tom Bergeron’s line at the results? “The Couple DENIED the shot in the semi finals is…” This is just the conspiracy theorist in me but doesn’t that sound like the producers set this elimination up? But I don’t know if I can believe that because it really feels like the judges/producers want Ralph to make it. Perhaps a Donny Osmond leniency? They probably want him to be the “lovable old flip”. Sorry folks Ralph is MILES better than Donny ever was in my biased UN-humble opinion. But I still have to wonder if that TB line should be read further deeper? What do you all think?

Loved the Best of the Result Shows! Wow! I miss Derek! (and Jonathan!!) I wasn’t going to watch it, but am so glad I did. It was great to see all the pros together again!

I’m so happy Ralph was safe! I just hope he heals quickly enough for next week’s show. Having said that, I like all four left, but I don’t think Kirstie’s dancing can compete with the others. I’m all for entertainment value, etc., but when it comes down to the actual Mirror Ball winner, I want the best combination of dancing and personality to win. 🙂

I’ve enjoyed this season a lot, but I kinda don’t like the two male front runners–and haven’t from the beginning. Fans seem to LOVE Ralph, and I don’t get it. I’m with the commenter above–seems stiff to me and doesn’t really throw it all out there. And Hines can get sloppy at times. Chelsea is good, but Mark irks me this season.

But Romeo? Chelsie is quickly becoming my favorite female pro (which is weird because I couldn’t stand her on SYTYCD). And Romeo experienced DWTS as everyone should–as a learning experience that helped him to grow. And he enjoyed it and improved and threw his entire self into every dance. I am bummed about his exit (as I already said last night).

🙁

With that said, Kirstie is still in it, so I have hope. Maybe it’ll happen. *fingerscrossed*

I’m so torn right now – was really pleased that Ralph didn’t get sent home as I hate it when the judges are so blatant with their manipulation – but now I am really stuck as to who should win…
Kirstie has been great fun and I like Maks a lot more this season, but agree with @Maggie that it should be the best combination of dancing and personality that should win. Think Chelsea is clearly the best dancer left (though really not that great compared to previous seasons) but feel really strongly that Mark should not be given a third mirrorball trophy after his behaviour this season. I have never really understood the Hines bandwagon – his last couple of weeks have been really, really average and the overscoring is not helping me warm to him. Like Ralph the best of those left, but feel that he is a bit stiff especially with the Latin and am worried his injuries will prevent him giving his all.
So basically don’t know who should win – almost don’t care – which is a bit of a first for me (as long as it isn’t Mark). Can’t imagine I shall look back on this season much – am already looking forward to Sept if they chose a better bunch of celebrities.
Unfortunately will not see the results show as for some reason they are not showing this season in the UK. What exactly is this third dance and what possible justification is being used to override the power of people’s votes? Am off to find some new email addresses so I can vote against injustice next week!

@Lisa – So far, they’ve been pretty ambiguous about this alleged 15-point “bonus dance”. Last night was the first anyone had heard of it, and all we know for sure is that whoever wins it gets 15 extra points. Wikipedia (which we only take with a grain of salt anyway) is calling it a “winner take all” cha-cha, which makes it sound to me that ONLY the couple who wins will get the extra points, and there won’t be any smaller point values for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place. And if it’s a cha-cha – well, you can basically guarantee that they aren’t gonna let Ralph win. My best guess is that this is a strategy to let the judges “shield” their favorite from elimination – and my gut tells me it will probably be Chelsea, if they’re being strategic about it. Basically – it’s a load of bull that takes that much more power out of the voters’ hands and I think ANYONE that believes that the voters deserve to choose who moves on should be angry about it – regardless of who their favorite couple is.

I agree with pretty much everything you said about the couples that remain – I cringe at the thought of Mark taking home ANOTHER MBT, especially after his behavior this season. Hines has become a complete non-event for me in the past few weeks – he hasn’t had the same sparkle for me since his samba in week 3. Kirstie is a delight to watch, but perhaps not the most consistent; and while I love Ralph, he seems to only really excel at the ballroom dances, and really struggles with the Latin ones. I would prefer Kirstie or Ralph to win, but I think I’d be ok with Hines as well.

And yes, I think anyone that wants to take back the power from the judges and their shady agenda needs to start creating new, verified ABC.com accounts TODAY. Online voting is the best way to beat this nonsense!

I”m on it, mmc – hypothetical numbers coming right up. And I can guarantee that NO ONE, other than Mark fans who don’t care how he wins, will like it. You know, I have no problem with the judges taking the final four and basically ranking them in order of how good they think they are. That is actually their job. In a given dance if they give someone a 10, the next a 9 and so on – fine. That’s fair. They are ranking in order of their opinion. The audience vote can still, realisitically, beat it if they want. The judges overscored Audrina in one dance, put her way up in second place, and she went home anyway, despite Kurt being….8 points down? Something fairly significant. In any case, it can be done. BUT, if they give ONE couple 15 points on one dance and no one else gets any points at all?? I seriously doubt that can be over come in voting by ANYONE. I’ll save the rest for my post. 🙂 But I am already pissed off just thinking about it.

I’m thinking that we could be in for a great cheesecake this week! Is it bad that as I was watching the results show, there were a few times where I thought, “this will probably make the cheesecake!” (and the only one I remember right now is Kym’s comment about Hines butt) Then I thought that Heidi and Courtney could probably find quite a few ingredients for their cheesecake in dancecenter…. Which I didn’t find as good as it normally is. A cheesy non-event for me.

I am sad to see Romeo leave… But then, I think I would be sad to see anyone leave. Well…. I would be sad to see any of the CELEBRITIES leave.

Lori, as I said on Twitter last night, I’m going to have to watch the whole show again because there was a lot of material. 🙂 Dance Center alone was brilliant. I’m still snickering at the Romeo and Kirstie ones. Did you catch on the Chelsea one under attributes it said “Likes to break the rules”. LOL

My predictions are Chelsea will most definitely get the 15 pts to secure her in the finals. Kirstie is everyones favorite and can do a decent cha-cha (different one this time Maks), Ralph we now know what his fans can do for him and IF Ralph makes it to the finals he will win the MBT. (No doubt in my mind). And thats great.

My prediction unfortunately is that Hines will be leaving next week. I just dont see Hines having the fanbase of Kirstie and Ralph to keep him in. And the judges will throw Chelsea her liferaft to the finals. BOO!

Heidi, I did think that DanceCenter could probably fill a whole cheesecake on its own… You know, you could probably give us TWO this week, one normal cheesecake, and one extra cheesy dancecenter cheesecake…. hint hint…

Im sure the judges dont want Chelsea to leave next week considering that Disney signs their paychecks. For all we know maybe they get a bonus or something for promoting their cash cow (Chelsea) (whom also worked for Disney), the celebs and the dancers do once they enter the final stage so why not them. No one would ever admit that, BUT we will never know that will we.

I don’t think it’s as blatant as some think it is. I mean, yes the judges have their favorites, but I don’t think the “system” is gamed so much that they promote a disney person, etc. I just think these final 4-5 people are really closely matched and it’s difficult to pick a frontrunner.

And I don’t know how this bonus dance will be scored, but I would find it difficult to believe that 15 points will just be given to someone, removing pretty much all doubt about that person making it to the finals–which makes people less likely to vote and tune into the results show. Unless we don’t find out about those 15 bonus points until Tuesday night…then maybe.

I wonder if it’s really winner take all or rather divvied up among the contestants? Guess we’ll find out soon enough..

@sandy – You could be right about Hines. Here’s my big revelation from last night: everyone remaining in the competition has been in jeopardy at least once – EXCEPT Hines. In fact, Hines has been the first one called “safe” 5 out of the last 8 weeks – and the other 2 times, he was the 2nd & 3rd person revealed as safe. While some may write this off as just mere coincidence, there is something to be said about being “in jeopardy” – it can spur fans to vote harder. Even though it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re in the bottom 2, it creates the illusion of danger, which can likely help spike vote counts the next week. On top of that, Hines has never had the low score – and as we’ve seen from Ralph & Kendra, low scores can actually save you as they too spur fans to vote harder. Hines’ fans have never had an “Oh sh*t!” moment like that – so I think they could be the ones in the most danger of getting complacent about voting and then being blindsided by a shock elimination. Add to the fact that Hines seems to be fading into the woodwork lately, and you’ve got a dangerous combination. Hell, at this point I think he could be in even more danger than Chelsea for the infamous “shock elim” – at least her fans have had a few scares to goad them into voting harder.

I find myself agreeing with Beth. I really can’t see the judges awarding a whole 15 points to a single dancer. It’s absurd! That’s a shit-ton of points at this point in the competition and I think the hue and cry from the viewers would be deafening. I just can’t see the logic in it. Even the flawed ABC logic. *LOL* Maybe each judge will get 5 points to award? Even then… it’s still pretty crazy. Call me naive – y’all won’t be the first – but I just can’t see TPTB being so overtly and blatantly manipulative.

At this point, I’m completely confuzzled. Don’t know whom I want to see holding the MBT. There are things I like about each of the remaining celebs and pros (although I am annoyed with Mark).

It would be a whole lot easier if the producers and judges would just stop the manipulation and let the dancing and voting determine the winner. Since that’s *never* going to happen, I’m planning on doing a lot of deep breathing (cleansing breath, calming breath, repeat as needed).

@Evaine & Beth – We don’t have any official explanation yet, but “winner takes all” implies to me that the winner gets ALL of the points, and it wouldn’t be the first absurd or manipulative thing TPTB have done with the show. I think for now we’re all just preparing for the worst-case scenario – that some lucky couple gets all those points lavished upon them and basically a free pass to the finale. Who knows – maybe with all this rubbing elbows they’ve been doing with Idol, they’ve decided they want to implement a “judges’ save” as well – except they’re trying to disguise it as “bonus points”. The judges’ save was (and I imagine still is) pretty unpopular with Idol viewers during the first season they implemented it – people hated that it took some of the power out of the viewers’ hands. It would not surprise me at all if Conrad & friends are trying to bring that same thing over to DWTS – maybe after the Bristol fiasco last season, the judges’ actually spoke up about not wanting their favorites to go home. Carrie Ann sure seems to get misty-eyed when one of her boytoys gets the ol’ heave-ho.

As for how it’s going to work – it may really be 5 points per judge, and maybe each judge can only give their entire 5 points to one couple…they can’t split it up. So assuming each judge picks the same couple, it’s the possibility for 15 TOTAL additional points. I could see them going either 10 & 5 (two of them give their points to the same couple, and the other gives their points to another couple) or 5, 5, & 5 (each giving their points to a different couple – and none of them giving their points to Ralph :-() However it works – I still don’t like it.

Wow, listening to Karina in her On The Red Carpet interview it sounds even more stupid? A 45 second dance that they may have to do twice because it sounds like they’ll take the best two and have them dance off each other? Sounds like a total clusterf**k to me!

You know, I’m all for fine-tuning the show from season to season, bringing in a few new and fun elements to keep people on their toes and all, but this… THIS is just idiotic, no matter how you look at it.

Listen to Kym’s video. Vogue tells me that Kym uses the words “winner takes all” – that to me says who ever wins gets all the points. So, they can send Chelsea to the finale and there is nothing the viewers can do about it unless she’s seriously not getting the votes. Or the fans of others really get off their butts.

REGARDLESS of how you feel about Mark and Chelsea, ppl should be outraged by this. They essentially have no say in one third of the final 3. It also should piss off Mark and Chelsea and the other dancers. Them getting to the Final 3, whoever wins, will be seriously tainted. Like I am fond of saying, this show has NEVER been “fair” but this is extremely ridiculous. If Mark manages to win, it won’t be the end all be all – it will be a third win where he’s had serious help. Two ringers and now this? Oy veh. Just imagine how defensive he’ll be.

I am very upset about this 15 point dance business! I hope the producers clear up how it will work soon! If this tips the scales of voting out of the hands of the fans, I will be very ticked!! This where I want to type a bunch of *!#*! words to show my frustration, but I don’t want to be deleted from here forever! 🙂

Ooh, this “winner take all” extra dance has me confuzzled and annoyed. If TPTB are going to pull something like this, then why not just eliminate viewer voting altogether? That’s what a 15 point bonus does, after all. Then, us viewers can sit back and relax while we see who Len, Bruno, and CAI’s va-jay-jay would like to see continue on… 🙁

I may get blasted for this, but my choice for someone going home last night was Hines. I think Courtney said it – he just hasn’t impressed me with any growth in the last few weeks. It would’ve been more enjoyable to me to watch Romeo’s continued ballroom transformation… I was sad to see him go, but was so happy that we get to see Ralph again next week.

I’m curious. Has anyone sampled the ABC boards to see what their take is on this? I’m too damned petrified to go over there after all I’ve heard about them on this board. *LOL* I guess I’m figuring that TPTB use those boards as a bit of a sample as to what the viewership might be thinking? Are they as outraged as we all seem to be?

Correct me if im wrong, but I thought I read an article last year pertaining to the Bristol fiasco (her reaching the finals), that there may be some changes in judging for future DWTS finales, and the judges may have more of an impact on who gets there. Now that I think of it Im almost certain I read that. This could be the answer ladies.

BTW, If Mark wins the MBT for the third time, Im breaking my fricking TV.

I just looked Evaine, and I didn’t see any mention of it. It’s mostly people complaining about how Ralph/Kirstie/Hines/Chelsea should have been eliminated last night.

I also just looked at the description for the performance show for next week on the ABC website, and all it says is that each couple will perform two dances. I guess the 15 point dance will be during the results show.

I think, and this may be wrong, but if they are trying to save Chelsea it may be as a result of them wanting the best dancer in the finals – and are trying to help her and not penalize her for Mark’s antics this season. Plus it would make the finals more interesting cause she CAN dance and Mark can do a pretty good freestyle. I don’t think they’d necessarily win even if they got there, but I can sorta see why they are doing this. It reminds me of season 9 when they kept on saving Aaron Carter – who was a good dancer that wasn’t getting votes – all because of his packages. I felt really bad for the guy, even if he did come across as occasionally whiny/dbaggy, he tried REALLY hard and had some decent talent.

If they are doing this to save Chelsea, Fig, it is NOTHING like what they did for anyone else on the show, including Aaron or Bristol. I can certainly understand ranking the contestants, like I said – but after that, let the people vote. This 15 points almost amounts to a sure thing. And that ain’t right.

Just imagine… the couples dance their 2 dances… the scores are out of 60 at this point, so… say… 58, 60, 57 and 56 for argument’s sake. They give the 15 points to ANY of them and you’re looking at for instance … 73, 60, 57 and 56. That’s… it’s just wrong. Even if one couple scores really low… 58, 60, 57 and 53. Give the 15 to the highest couple and it’s 58, 75, 57 and 53. Give it to the lowest and it’s 58, 60, 57 and 68. WRONG

Didnt they implement a dance off for the lowest two? The judges were able to pick who they wanted to stay on – (they may have done this for Pamela Anderson too?). The details are fuzzy, but I distinctly remember dance offs and how it benefited better dancing couples that probably had low voting totals.

Evaine, what you read on Twitter is pretty much right, and it’s winner take all. I guess I’m the only one on here not outraged over this – yes the judges will pretty much get to select one person they want in the finals, but I don’t care – the voters will still be picking the other 2. The voters normally have more power than the judges. I wouldn’t mind a judges’ save at all, it would prevent talented dancers from shock eliminations.

I THINK the only time they had dance offs was in the season with 16 couples and they had to do several double eliminations – and people hated that too. The dance offs (I think) were to determine who the second eliminated couple was going to be. Even then, however, it wasn’t done to decide the final 4 and even if it had been, it was still done between the two lowest combined scoring people – they were already close to going home and the voters had had a chance to vote for them and save them. The way this sounds like it is being set up is that everyone does their 2 dances, gets their scores and then there is a third dance where someone gets a full 15 points. If you are the high judges score getter, but people aren’t voting for you as much as the others you normally would go home. This way, they make the margin so huge that you are guaranteed safety INSTEAD of going home. It takes that one person entirely out of the voters hands, where the other method the voters had a shot, but if they failed then it went to the judges.

Yeah I remember dance offs too. And this isn’t something they just cooked up this week to “save” Chelsea, it’s been planned for a while. I’m not so sure Chelsea and Mark are the judges’ favorites anyway.

Buttercup, you know, I guess what pisses me off is the way they’re dressing it up. Call it a Judges Save then, for heaven’s sake! And don’t use this points schtick. I mean, from a mental standpoint, I’m sure it would be demoralizing for the other teams. And I firmly believe that the mental aspect counts for just as much as the ability aspect when a couple performs. At least with Idol, when they use the save, the next week 2 singers go home.

And I don’t believe they cooked it up to save Chelsea either, nor do I believe she’s the judges’ favorite. Not Carrie Ann’s anyways, she’s got the wrong equipment. If I have to pick a judges’ (producer’s) fave, I think it’s Hines. They want that ‘male’ demographic to keep watching.

Maybe we’re just making mountains out of molehills, I don’t know. *LOL*

Wouldn’t it be COMPLETELY awesome if they picked someone (Hines or Chelsea) and it didn’t work??? That would be hoisting them on their own petards. If they do pick Chelsea, I can see that happening. But not if they pick Hines. That would be awesome. What I wouldn’t give to see the look on CAI’s face…

Oh, and I agree with Evaine. You want a judges save? Man up and call it that instead of the bull of an extra 15 points.

Of the top 4 remaining, 3 of them are actors and 1 is a football player. If Hines is let go, then we have 3 actors going to the finals…Last year the final 3 were actors, I guess thats what you would call Bristol. I guess what Im saying is DWTS really needs Hines to make the finals to save face, kind of….Oh well thinking way too much and just needed to get that off my chest. And the year before that……

But in my un-humble, biased opinion, This IS the judges saving one for the finals. If they save Chelsea, let’s make sure we all vote for anyone BUT Chelsea. Everyone needs to bring their A-game when it comes to voting. But focus on ONE! Maybe we should split up into teams. One team votes for all Hines, One for All Kirstie and one for All Ralph. That is, if Chelsea is ‘saved’.

And I would sooooooo love to see the look on CAI’s face when Chelsea is eliminated (or anyone except Ralph and Kirstie, anyway. I know. I know. That only leaves Hines and Chelsea.)

If it comes down to the bottom two doing this extra dance, and one of them being saved, I might be okay with that. What I wouldn’t be okay with is the judges saving someone who just might not even be close to getting enough votes to stick around anyway.

Maybe I’m just bitter. I wanted a Kirstie/Ralph/Hines finale, but now I have a feeling that the judges might save Chelsea who I think would be eliminated next week if it were like any other week.

Hey I’m no company hack here. 🙂 I love the show but I have nothing invested in sticking up for the producers, just giving my opinion. And I’m not so sure the judges do the producers’ bidding as many of you seem to think when you group them together into one word. In fact, I think it’s unlikely the judges know who is getting the most/least votes each week. That is a closely guarded secret I’m sure.

I kind of wish they would institute a regular judges’ save if they were going to go that route though, instead of this one time only strange thing. I’d like it better if there was a judges’ save of the bottom 2 also. But for that to happen they’d have to start revealing who the real bottom 2 are again and that doesn’t look like it’s happening.

This is the first season I don’t care who ends up in the finals, it’s strange. I won’t be upset if the judges save Chelsea because dance-ability wise she definitely deserves to be there, no matter how annoying Mark is. I love something about each of the couples and can’t even pick a favorite, which has never happened to me as long as I’ve been watching this show.

Well, Buttercup, it’s the “one time thing” aspect of it (along with not having done it this way before) which calls the whole setup into question – valid or not. Perception is reality and all that.

As for the judges – well, I think that certainly makes it more interesting. They will manipulate their scores however possible to keep someone around – it would be funny if, in their quest to get the best dancer (with the most annoying partner) in the finals they actual get people so pissed off that they fail. I would love to see it, honestly. 🙂

I think the fact that this is a one-time thing (that seemed to kinda come out of left field) is what bothers me the most – why do this now? Is there something different going on this season that would necessitate the judges giving one couple such a big boost? I guess I’m a bit of a purist – let things shake out how they may, with normal scoring and normal voting. I think the show has always worked best with equal parts judges scores and viewer votes determining who sticks around – that is, unless the judges start giving out scores that don’t really make sense, like they have been the past few seasons. Why give them any more ammo with which to shoot themselves (and the viewers) in the foot?

I don’t really think there’s any big plan behind this, just another one of those throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. Though maybe it’s a way of ensuring that at least the best dancer (according to the judges) makes it through to the finals. Which like I said doesn’t bother me, except for the fact that the judges’ scoring has indeed been increasingly erratic and inconsistent (calling some people out for things that other people don’t get called out for).

Oh well I guess I’m just not very cynical about there being secret motives behind everything. I’ve always thought the producers’ main motive is to get as many viewers as possible, and that they don’t have any “favorites” outside of who they think is bringing in viewers. But the people bringing in viewers should be the same people getting the votes for the most part, right?

Even Idol has enough common sense not to “game” the system and control the outcome for the FINALS. They end the save well before that. They also have enough guts to be upfront about what they are doing. As far as the best dancer argument is concerned, the show has never been about the best dancer and only the best dancer advancing. They tell us over and over “vote for your favorites.” They’ve always encouraged people to set their own standard for voting. Now they are telling us “but we will substitute our judgement and our standard for yours when all is said and done.” That stinks.